Crumbs from the Table

596/7 is the date when Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, sent a mission to evangelise the pagan English (Angle, Saxon and Jute settlers in Britain). However, Christianity had been in Britain since the second century. This blog post is an attempt to present a chronicle of Christianity in Britain.  In 43 AD, under the Emperor Claudius, a large part of what is now England and Wales was annexed by the Roman Empire, and designated the province of Britannia . Roman towns included Londinium (London), Verulamium (St Alban's), Dubris (Dover), Isca Dumononiorum (Exeter), Lindum (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York).  The indigenous population of Roman Britain were Britons, speakers of the Brythonic language (Celtic branch of the Indo-European languages). There is archaeological evidence that Christianity was introduced to Roman Britain by the late 100s (second century). It is suspected that Christianity first arrived as a result of informal trade and other contacts between Gaul and Britain, rath

Indigenous peoples and languages of the Iberian peninsula pre-dated Greek and Phoenician colonies, and conquests by Carthage and later Rome. For example, the languages spoken in the dark orange areas on the map (right) are classified as "Iberian" (non-Indo-European).  Roman domination replaced Carthaginian during the Second Punic War in 218 BC, although there were wars of resistance to Roman rule into the 100s BC, and the process of Romanisation lasted into the first century BC. The Romans called the peninusula "Hispania". Under the Romans Latin became the dominant language, by the 800s evolving into what is now Spanish (and Portuguese).  Writing the letter to the Romans sometime around 57-59 AD, the Apostle Paul expressed his desire to preach in what is now Spain. Based on references in Clement of Rome and the Muratorian Fragment, Paul may well have fulfilled his ambition, perhaps sometime between AD 63 and AD 67. A far less reliable tradition claims James the Gre